


i know little, but i promise

by keito



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Champagne, M/M, New Year's Eve, let's pretend they're 20 in this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-27
Updated: 2020-12-27
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:53:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,593
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28350462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keito/pseuds/keito
Summary: December 31st, 11:59:57.As the clock ticks down to midnight, Keito is cognisant of exactly three things. One, the expensive champagne in the flute he’s holding smells much too dry for his tastes. Two, there’s a flush to his cheeks that is surely as noticeable to others as it is uncomfortable to him. Three, there’s a warm and soft head of blond hair pillowed against his shoulder that is taking about 97% of his attention right now. (The remaining 3% is divided in a 2:1 ratio towards his flush and the champagne, respectively.)
Relationships: Hasumi Keito/Tenshouin Eichi
Comments: 3
Kudos: 21





	i know little, but i promise

**Author's Note:**

> there's a slow, slow death if you want it

_ December 31st, 11:59:57. _

As the clock ticks down to midnight, Keito is cognisant of exactly three things. One, the expensive champagne in the flute he’s holding smells much too dry for his tastes. Two, there’s a flush to his cheeks that is surely as noticeable to others as it is uncomfortable to him. Three, there’s a warm and soft head of blond hair pillowed against his shoulder that is taking about 97% of his attention right now. (The remaining 3% is divided in a 2:1 ratio towards his flush and the champagne, respectively.)

Aforementioned head of blond hair is humming a soft, happy tune that Keito doesn’t recognize. Keito knows there’s no way Eichi is drunk from just a couple of glasses of wine from earlier in the night - he can put back more than anyone would realize, something Keito had learned from experience - but something about the atmosphere of the night has everyone feeling a bit punch-drunk and giddy. Keito’s never been one for the holidays, but the wave of New Year’s Eve has even managed to catch him in its wake. Especially when Eichi picks his head off his shoulder and gives him a smile, one that reaches his eyes and makes him look like he’s glowing.

Keito looks away as the heat in his face grows stronger. Maybe the wine was a bad idea.

“Keito, are you shy?” Eichi sing-songs next to him, a cheerful tease. His hand sneaks across Keito’s back, around his waist to pull him closer to Eichi’s side, and Keito feels himself tense up like a startled cat. It’s not an unwanted touch, of course, but something about the way Eichi does it never fails to make Keito feel like he’s a wire about to snap. “Aw, your face is all red. Have you had too much to drink?”

“Of course not,” Keito replies, a bit too snappy than he intended. He feels guilt well in his chest, but Eichi, in his usual reaction to Keito’s prickliness, just laughs. “I’ve hardly had anything. A couple of glasses of wine isn’t enough to get me drunk.”

“Are you sure?” Eichi says mischievously, toeing the line as he often does with Keito. He leans in so close that Keito is sure his boyfriend can hear his heart pounding. “You look  _ really _ flushed, Keito.”

“Eichi,” Keito says lowly, a warning, and Eichi laughs again, pulling back from Keito slightly so he can breathe. As much as Keito loved the idea of a tipsy, touchy Eichi crowding his personal space, there  _ were  _ still people around, including Hibiki Wataru, provider of wine and perpetual thorn in Keito’s side. The last thing Keito wanted was to give him more ammunition for his teasing. 

They lapse into comfortable silence after that, Eichi’s hand still on Keito’s waist, and it takes an unreasonable amount of mental effort for Keito to pull his attention away from the feeling and direct it to the people around them. It wasn’t a bustling New Year’s Eve party - such a thing wasn’t exactly Eichi’s style, and it  _ certainly  _ wasn’t Keito’s - but the small crowd nestled into the living area of Eichi’s home was more than enough. Most of the occupants were wrangled in by Wataru’s insistence as the “unofficial official party organizer,” including one Kiryuu Kuro, who Keito was surprised had even bothered to respond to the invitation, let alone show up. Some, however, were Eichi’s own personal choice, such as Ritsu, who was nursing a glass of sparkling grape juice with an out-of-place Mao on his arm as the two of them chatted with Hajime.

Keito feels eyes on him then, bristling at the sensation, but when he spots the offender, he softens. Keito was surprised when he opened the door earlier and found Tsumugi on the other side, but the night had gone without any awkwardness, despite Eichi’s old friend having brought Natsume in tow, seemingly unwillingly. Keito hadn’t known Eichi was even thinking of inviting them, but the relieved smile on Eichi’s face when he saw Tsumugi cross the threshold reminded Keito that Eichi was certainly capable of taking care of himself, both physically and emotionally.

“Are you going to make a wish?” Eichi says next to him suddenly, making Keito jump and swivel his head to look at him. The grandfather clock behind him ticks, the minute hand jumping a bit closer to twelve. One minute until midnight. In front of him, Eichi laughs again, tacking on, “for the New Year,” at Keito’s puzzled expression.

“Oh,” Keito replies dumbly. Across the room, Wataru’s voice calls out, alerting everyone to the time and beginning to count down, but Keito’s eyes are trained on Eichi’s hopeful face. It’s been a while since he’s seen Eichi like this. “No, I don’t think so.”

Eichi seems to deflate a bit at that, and Keito’s heart jumps into his throat. His hand moves to pull Eichi closer like a magnet. In the background, voices are chattering, a hum filling the room as the seconds pass. “Why not?” Eichi asks, a hint of uncharacteristic, genuine disappointment in his voice. Ah, the wine. “Do you not have anything to wish for?”

Keito sighs, feeling his thoughts swim like the Pacific.  _ I have so much to wish for _ , he wants to say.  _ I wish I could melt with you. I wish I could meet you in every lifetime after this one so I could fall in love with you all over again. I wish you were always well. I wish that death would take me one minute before you so I would never have to know a life without you, even if it would mean breaking our promise. I wish you would never worry. I wish I knew so much less. _

None of those words will do, though. He can hear Eichi’s voice already -  _ don’t be so dramatic, Keito _ , or  _ you’re the one who needs to worry less _ , or, worst of all,  _ I know _ . So he pulls Eichi closer as the chatter grows louder, Eichi’s hand moving to rest against his chest. “I have you,” he says, loose-lipped and sincere for the first time in his memory, “smiling and in my arms. Our friends are here and everyone is doing well. What more could I wish for?”

Eichi looks at him for long enough that their friends begin to count down -  _ thirty, twenty-nine, twenty-eight _ \- and Keito is about to apologize when Eichi’s fingers curl just slightly in his shirt. “Will you kiss me, then?” Eichi asks, and there’s a smile on his face again, perpetually enigmatic even after all these years. Keito loves him. “Once it turns midnight.”

Keito isn’t going to say no to that. “Sure,” he agrees, and Eichi’s eyes seem to sparkle, “but why?”

Eichi’s smile broadens.  _ Eighteen, seventeen, sixteen _ . His hand slides up from Keito’s chest to rest on his shoulder, holding him there gently. “For good luck, of course,” he says softly, “so my wish will come true.” 

There’s a spike of worry in Keito’s chest - is Eichi not happy? - but he pushes it down, fighting against the needless anxiety. “What are you wishing for?” he starts asking, but Eichi is already leaning closer, their noses brushing together.

“Ten,” Eichi murmurs, his breath puffing warm about Keito’s lips. Keito feels his brain quiet as his hand finds Eichi’s waist, the jut of his hip. Fuck, he’s so beautiful. “Nine.”

“Eight,” Keito fills in. Distantly, he hears other voices around them, counting growing louder in these final seconds. “Seven, six.”

“Five,” Eichi continues, so quiet that Keito has to focus entirely on him just to hear. Waiting five more seconds before kissing him felt herculean to Keito now, with Eichi so close that he could feel every breath the blond took. “Four.”

“Three,” Keito mumbles. He watches as Eichi’s eyelids flutter. “Eichi, I love you.”

Around them, the world cheers as Keito closes the last inch of distance between their mouths. In his arms, Eichi holds on like an anchor, weighing Keito to the moment. Keito only manages to pull away when he hears a wolf whistle and a hollering cheer, finding way too many eyes on them when he turns to find out who was responsible. Keito feels his face flush, but in his arms, Eichi just laughs, looping his arms around Keito’s neck and leaning in to kiss his cheek.

“This wish better come true,” Keito grumbles as he turns back to Eichi, burning with embarrassment now that the high of the countdown has worn off, but Eichi just laughs a bit more, pulling back slightly to unhook his arms from Keito’s neck carefully. He tips the flute of champagne in his hand towards Keito - who had forgotten his own, still in his hand with his arms wrapped around Eichi’s waist - and waits until Keito lifts his own to tap the glasses together. “What did you even wish for, anyways?”

“If I tell you, it won’t come true,” Eichi says cheekily, winking at Keito as he lifts his champagne to his glass to take a sip. Keito sighs as he takes a sip of his own champagne, trying not to scrunch up his nose at the taste, but Eichi leans in again as soon as the glass moves away from his mouth, kissing him before he can get a word in edgewise. 

“Don’t worry,” Eichi says softly against his mouth, and Keito feels his heart skip, Eichi’s lips warm and wet on his. “I’m happy.”

And well, who was Keito to argue with that?

**Author's Note:**

> #JehanFinnick1Month
> 
> thanks for letting this idiot be your partner. i adore you.


End file.
